Q: Mr. Cordell, how long have you been teaching?
A: This is my 25th year in my career. During this time I have been a teacher at all levels from elementary school to graduate level at the university, where I was a teacher of future teachers.
Q: Mr. Cordell, what got you into teaching?
A: I think it was my destiny to be a teacher. I pursued many majors in college, but never felt quite right about what I was doing until I finally committed to the path to become a teacher. Before landing on education, I was a computer science major, a business major, a business writing major, and then finally I lumped all of those courses into an education / sociology major.
Q: What made you want to become an English teacher?
A: I have always loved writing from as far back as I can remember. Writing is still my greatest passion. It's my purest artistic expression. Through writing, I am able to really know myself and understand my world. Writing is a bit of a mystery to me. It's almost like a complete story already exists out there in the universe and when I am in the zone it flows through me and onto the paper. It sound really trippy to say that, but that's how it works for me. It's awesome.
Q: What is like teaching at Sage Creek?
A: I feel like I won the lotto getting to be a teacher at Sage Creek.
Q: Lastly, What made you want to teach at Sage Creek?
A: So, this is a long story, and I will try to make it short and to the point. I have had a very unique journey in my career. As I mentioned before, I have been at every level of teaching from third grade to Master's Level, and I have been an assistant principal, school counselor, and university level academic affairs person. I recently retired from my second job that I held for 15 years as a department chair for the College of Education. As a kind of career topper I had a book about teaching published in 2011. That book is called New School. That book was about lessons learned from my grandmother who is currently alive and well at 96 years of age. She was a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse that had kids form grades 1-8 all in one room. She had to teach them all. She was the only person there. She had to be the teacher, the principal, the custodian, the nurse, the counselor, the policewoman, and over see lunch.
To answer this question fully, that other stuff needs to be out there first. I had been on a long journey that started out with being a teacher in my own classroom. As the years rolled by, and I learned a lot about schools by working in all those other jobs, I knew that my true love and true calling has always been to be a teacher in the classroom.
Finally, to get to your answer, Sage Creek Opening two years ago seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to return full time to teaching and have room to move and grow and try new an different things. I had to interview for this job, and I was as nervous and excited going into the interview process as I was when I was looking for me first job. After it was all over, and Mr. Morales called me to tell me that he wanted to hire me, I was over the moon as they say. I have been walking in the clouds ever since. I love being at Sage Creek. I am going to teach longer than I have to teach for retirement. I hope to teach for another 12 years and then retire from Sage Creek. I hope this school is my final school. If you doing the math, 25 years + 12 more years=a long and very rewarding career.
Finally, a message from Mr. Cordell: Thanks Sage Creek Bobcats. You are rocking my world!
A: This is my 25th year in my career. During this time I have been a teacher at all levels from elementary school to graduate level at the university, where I was a teacher of future teachers.
Q: Mr. Cordell, what got you into teaching?
A: I think it was my destiny to be a teacher. I pursued many majors in college, but never felt quite right about what I was doing until I finally committed to the path to become a teacher. Before landing on education, I was a computer science major, a business major, a business writing major, and then finally I lumped all of those courses into an education / sociology major.
Q: What made you want to become an English teacher?
A: I have always loved writing from as far back as I can remember. Writing is still my greatest passion. It's my purest artistic expression. Through writing, I am able to really know myself and understand my world. Writing is a bit of a mystery to me. It's almost like a complete story already exists out there in the universe and when I am in the zone it flows through me and onto the paper. It sound really trippy to say that, but that's how it works for me. It's awesome.
Q: What is like teaching at Sage Creek?
A: I feel like I won the lotto getting to be a teacher at Sage Creek.
Q: Lastly, What made you want to teach at Sage Creek?
A: So, this is a long story, and I will try to make it short and to the point. I have had a very unique journey in my career. As I mentioned before, I have been at every level of teaching from third grade to Master's Level, and I have been an assistant principal, school counselor, and university level academic affairs person. I recently retired from my second job that I held for 15 years as a department chair for the College of Education. As a kind of career topper I had a book about teaching published in 2011. That book is called New School. That book was about lessons learned from my grandmother who is currently alive and well at 96 years of age. She was a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse that had kids form grades 1-8 all in one room. She had to teach them all. She was the only person there. She had to be the teacher, the principal, the custodian, the nurse, the counselor, the policewoman, and over see lunch.
To answer this question fully, that other stuff needs to be out there first. I had been on a long journey that started out with being a teacher in my own classroom. As the years rolled by, and I learned a lot about schools by working in all those other jobs, I knew that my true love and true calling has always been to be a teacher in the classroom.
Finally, to get to your answer, Sage Creek Opening two years ago seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to return full time to teaching and have room to move and grow and try new an different things. I had to interview for this job, and I was as nervous and excited going into the interview process as I was when I was looking for me first job. After it was all over, and Mr. Morales called me to tell me that he wanted to hire me, I was over the moon as they say. I have been walking in the clouds ever since. I love being at Sage Creek. I am going to teach longer than I have to teach for retirement. I hope to teach for another 12 years and then retire from Sage Creek. I hope this school is my final school. If you doing the math, 25 years + 12 more years=a long and very rewarding career.
Finally, a message from Mr. Cordell: Thanks Sage Creek Bobcats. You are rocking my world!